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2021 CONCACAF Champions League

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2021 CONCACAF Champions League
2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League
Tournament details
Dates6 April – 28 October 2021
Teams16 (from 8 associations)
← 2020
2022 →

The 2021 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) will be the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 56th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament, which usually starts in mid-February each year, will instead start in April, and will conclude with the final in October, which will be played as a single-leg match, which will be hosted by the finalist which have the better performances in previous rounds.[1]

The winners of the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League will qualify for the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan. UANL are the title holders, but did not qualify for this tournament and are unable to defend their title.

Qualification

A total of 16 teams participate in the CONCACAF Champions League:

Therefore, teams from between 6 and 10 out of the 41 CONCACAF member associations may participate in the CONCACAF Champions League.

North America

The nine direct berths for the North American Football Union (NAFU), which consists of three member associations, are allocated as follows: four berths each for Mexico and the United States, and one berth for Canada.

For Mexico, the champions and runners-up of the Liga MX Apertura and Clausura Liguilla tournaments qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. For the Apertura tournament, the playoff winners and runners-up qualified, while for the Clausura tournament, no playoffs were held due to the league's suspension; the two highest ranked teams in the regular season at the time of suspension instead qualified. If there is any team which are finalists of both tournaments, the vacated berth is reallocated using a formula, based on regular season records, that ensures that two teams qualify via each tournament.

For the United States, four teams qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League, three through the Major League Soccer (MLS) season and one through its domestic cup competition:

If there is any team which qualifies through multiple berths, or if there is any Canada-based MLS team which are champions of the MLS Cup, the Supporters' Shield, or conference regular season (not applicable for 2021 CONCACAF Champions League), the vacated berth is reallocated to the U.S.-based team with the best MLS regular season record not yet qualified.

For Canada, the champions of the Canadian Championship, its domestic cup competition which awards the Voyageurs Cup, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. While some Canada-based teams compete in MLS, they cannot qualify through either the MLS regular season or playoffs. Moreover, the champions of the Canadian Premier League qualify for the CONCACAF League, meaning a second team from Canada (and a tenth team from North America) may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Central America

Teams from the Central American Football Union (UNCAF), which consists of seven member associations, must qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through the CONCACAF League. A total of 18 teams from Central America qualify for the CONCACAF League through their domestic leagues. As all but four teams in the CONCACAF League are from Central America, between two and six teams from Central America may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Caribbean

Teams from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), which consists of 31 member associations, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League either as champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, the first-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament, or through the CONCACAF League. Since 2018, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship is open to teams from professional leagues, where they can qualify as champions or runners-up of their respective association's league in the previous season.[3]

Another three teams from the Caribbean qualify for the CONCACAF League, which are the runners-up and third-placed team of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship, and the winners of a playoff between the fourth-placed team of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship and the champions of the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, the second-tier subcontinental Caribbean club tournament which is open to teams from non-professional leagues, where they can qualify as champions of their respective association's league in the previous season. Therefore, between one and four teams from the Caribbean may qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

CONCACAF League

Further information: 2020 CONCACAF League § Qualification

Besides the 10 direct entrants of the CONCACAF Champions League, another 22 teams (1 from North America, 18 from Central America, and 3 from the Caribbean) qualify for the CONCACAF League, a tournament held from July to November prior to the CONCACAF Champions League.[4] The top six teams of the CONCACAF League, i.e., champions, runners-up, both losing semi-finalists, and two play-in round winners, qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Teams

The following 16 teams (from eight associations) qualify for the tournament.

In the following table, the number of appearances, last appearance, and previous best result count only those in the CONCACAF Champions League era starting from 2008–09 (not counting those in the era of the Champions' Cup from 1962 to 2008).

Direct entrants (10 teams)
Association Team Qualifying method App (last) Previous best (last)
 Mexico (4 berths) Monterrey 2019 Apertura champions 6th (2019) Champions (2019)
Cruz Azul 2020 Clausura regular season first place at time of suspension[Note MEX] 7th (2020) Champions (2013–14)
América 2019 Apertura runners-up 6th (2020) Champions (2015–16)
León 2020 Clausura regular season second place at time of suspension[Note MEX] 3rd (2020) Round of 16 (2020)
 United States (4 berths) Columbus Crew SC 2020 MLS Cup champions 3rd (2010–11) Quarter-finals (2010–11)
Philadelphia Union 2020 MLS Supporters' Shield champions 1st Debut
Portland Timbers MLS is Back Tournament champions[Note USA3] 3rd (2016–17) Group stage (2016–17)
Atlanta United FC 2019 U.S. Open Cup champions[Note USA4] 3rd (2020) Quarter-finals (2020)
 Canada (1 berth) 2020 Canadian Championship champions
 Dominican Republic (CFU berth) Atlético Pantoja Best ranked team of 2020 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship group stage[Note CFU] 2nd (2019) Round of 16 (2019)
Qualified teams from CONCACAF League (6 teams)
Association Team Qualifying method App (last) Previous best (last)
 Costa Rica Alajuelense 2020 CONCACAF League champions (1st overall) 6th (2014–15) Semi-finals (2014–15)
Saprissa 2020 CONCACAF League runners-up (2nd overall) 10th (2020) Semi-finals (2010–11)
 Honduras Olimpia 2020 CONCACAF League better ranked losing semi-finalists (3rd overall) 12th (2020) Semi-finals (2020)
Marathón 2020 CONCACAF League worse ranked play-in round winners (6th overall) 6th (2019) Quarter-finals (2009–10)
 Haiti Arcahaie 2020 CONCACAF League worse ranked losing semi-finalists (4th overall) 1st Debut
 Nicaragua Real Estelí 2020 CONCACAF League better ranked play-in round winners (5th overall) 7th (2016–17) Group stage (2016–17)
Notes
  1. ^
    Caribbean (CFU): The final stage of the 2020 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship was cancelled by CONCACAF on 25 August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Caribbean. The team which qualified to represent the Caribbean Football Union in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League are Atlético Pantoja from the Dominican Republic, the best ranked team of 2020 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship group stage.[5]
  2. ^
    Mexico (MEX): The 2020 Clausura tournament of the 2019–20 Liga MX season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, and the title was not awarded. The two teams which qualified from the 2020 Clausura to represent the Mexican Football Federation in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League are Cruz Azul (MEX2) and León (MEX4), the 2020 Clausura regular season best two teams at the time of suspension.[6]
  3. ^
    United States 3 (USA3): The 2020 Major League Soccer season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and Canada. The season resumed with the MLS is Back Tournament in July and August 2020, where the champions would qualify for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League regardless of whether they were from the United States or Canada, through the United States' third berth, which was originally awarded only to a team from the United States, replacing the 2020 MLS Eastern or Western Conference regular season champions which were not the Supporters' Shield champions (USA3). This one-time change was approved by CONCACAF, the United States Soccer Federation and the Canadian Soccer Association, and had no bearing on Canada's berth in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League, which would be awarded to the 2020 Canadian Championship champions, and thus if a team from Canada had won the MLS is Back Tournament, only three teams (instead of the usual four) from the United States, and two teams (instead of the usual one) from Canada (not considering the team from Canada which may qualify through the 2020 CONCACAF League), would qualify for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. If the same team had won both the MLS is Back Tournament and the Canadian Championship, the Canadian Soccer Association would decide which second team from Canada would qualify for the vacated berth.[2][7]
  4. ^
    United States 4 (USA4): The 2020 U.S. Open Cup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[8] The United States Soccer Federation announced that Atlanta United FC would receive the berth reserved for the cup winners (USA4) for winning the previous year's tournament.[9]

Draw

class=notpageimage|
Location of teams of the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League
North American Zone Central American Zone Caribbean Zone

The draw for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League will be held on 10 February 2021, 19:00 EST (UTC−5), at the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, United States.[1][10]

The draw determines each tie in the round of 16 (numbered 1 through 8) between a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, each containing eight teams. The "Bracket Position Pots" (Pot A and Pot B) contains the bracket positions numbered 1 through 8 corresponding to each tie. The teams from Pot 1 are assigned a bracket position from Pot A and the teams from Pot 2 are assigned a bracket position from Pot B. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other in the round of 16 except for "wildcard" teams which replace a team from another association.

The seeding of teams are based on the CONCACAF Club Index.[11] The CONCACAF Club Index, instead of ranking each team, is based on the on-field performance of the teams that have occupied the respective qualifying slots in the previous five editions of the CONCACAF Champions League. To determine the total points awarded to a slot in any single edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF uses the following formula:

Points per Participation Win Draw Stage advanced Champions
4 3 1 1 2

The slots are assigned by the following rules:[12]

  • For teams from North America, nine teams qualify based on criteria set by their association (e.g., tournament champions, runners-up, cup champions), resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., MEX1, MEX2) for each team. If a team from Canada qualify through the CONCACAF League, they are ranked within their association, resulting in an assigned slot (i.e., CAN2) for them.
  • For teams from Central America, they qualify through the CONCACAF League, and are ranked per association by their CONCACAF League ranking, resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., CRC1, CRC2) for each team.
  • For teams from the Caribbean, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship champions are assigned the Caribbean champion slot (i.e., CCC1). If teams from the Caribbean qualify through the CONCACAF League, they are ranked per association by their CONCACAF League ranking, resulting in an assigned slot (e.g., JAM1, SUR1) for each team.

The 16 teams are distributed in the pots as follows:[13]

Pot Rank Slot 2015–16 2016–17 2018 2019 2020 Total Team
Pot 1 1 MEX2 20 30 25 21 24 120 Mexico Cruz Azul
2 MEX1 33 27 12 20 11 103 Mexico Monterrey
3 MEX3 23 15 17 26 11 92 Mexico América
4 USA3 16 20 17 11 11 75 United States Portland Timbers
5 CAN1 8 22 21 5 10 66 Canada [CAN]
6 USA2 13 14 7 15 16 65 United States Philadelphia Union
7 USA1 14 11 11 11 6 53 United States Columbus Crew SC
8 USA4 16 8 5 11 12 52 United States Atlanta United FC
Pot 2 9 MEX4 18 10 9 4 7 48 Mexico León
10 CRC2 9 14 5 7 4 39 Costa Rica Saprissa
11 HON2 11 11 5 0 11 38 Honduras Marathón
12 CRC1 10 8 5 7 6 36 Costa Rica Alajuelense
13 HON1 10 11 5 4 5 35 Honduras Olimpia
14 CCC1 8 5 4 4 4 25 Dominican Republic Atlético Pantoja
15 NCA1 4 6 0 0 0 10 Nicaragua Real Estelí
16 HAI1 0 4 0 0 0 4 Haiti Arcahaie
Notes
  1. ^
    CAN The identity of the qualified team from Canada (Forge FC or Toronto FC) will not be known at the time of the draw.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[1]

Round First leg Second leg
Round of 16 6–8 April 2021 13–15 April 2021
Quarter-finals 27–29 April 2021 4–6 May 2021
Semi-finals 10–12 August 2021 24–26 August 2021
Final 26–28 October 2021

Times are Eastern Daylight Time, i.e., UTC−4, as listed by CONCACAF (local times are in parentheses).

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League set for April kickoff". www.concacafchampionsleague.com. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b "MLS is Back Tournament winner will qualify for 2021 Concacaf Champions League". Major League Soccer. 10 June 2020.
  3. ^ "CONCACAF Announces Expanded CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship for 2018". CONCACAF. 15 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Details revealed for newly launched Scotiabank CONCACAF League". CONCACAF League. 8 May 2017.
  5. ^ "Update on Concacaf Caribbean Club Shield and Flow Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship" (Press release). CONCACAF. August 25, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  6. ^ "Resolución de la Asamblea Extraordinaria de la LIGA MX". Liga MX. 22 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Concacaf Statement – Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League qualification for the winner of MLS Is Back tournament". Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. 10 June 2020.
  8. ^ "2020 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Cancelled Due to COVID-19" (Press release). United States Soccer Federation. August 17, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  9. ^ "Concacaf Champions League 2021 berth awarded to Atlanta United as 2019 US Open Cup winners". Major League Soccer. 11 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Concacaf announces details for 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League draw". CONCACAF Champions League. 28 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Q&A: Club Index for 2018 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League Draw". CONCACAF.com. 29 November 2017.
  12. ^ "SCCL How Clubs Qualify". CONCACAF Champions League. 9 October 2019.
  13. ^ "Club Ranking 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League" (PDF). CONCACAF.
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